Illicit Drug Use

Narrative

Illicit drug use is associated with serious health and social consequences, including addiction and drug-induced death, impaired cognitive functioning, kidney and liver damage, decreased productivity, and family disintegration.1,2 Illicit drugs include marijuana, cocaine, heroin, hallucinogens, inhalants, and non-medical use of prescription-type psychotherapeutic drugs, such as pain relievers, stimulants, and sedatives. Methamphetamine is a type of psychotherapeutic drug that has limited medical use for narcolepsy and attention deficit disorder, and is now manufactured and distributed illegally.1

In 2007–2009, 11.4 percent of adult women aged 18 years and older reported using an illicit drug within the past year, compared to 17.0 percent of adult men. Illicit drug use was highest among younger adults; almost one-third (30.4 percent) of adult women aged 18–25 reported past-year illicit drug use. Marijuana was the most commonly used illicit drug among women aged 18 and older (7.8 percent), followed by the non-medical use of psychotherapeutics
(5.6 percent).

Illicit drug use varies by race and ethnicity. Among women, the use of any illicit drug was highest among non-Hispanic American Indian/Alaska Native, non-Hispanic Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander and non-Hispanic women of multiple races (17.5, 17.6, and 17.7 percent, respectively) and lowest among non-Hispanic Asian women (5.4 percent). Racial and ethnic differences for specific types of illicit drugs are generally similar to differences for any illicit drug use. However, non-Hispanic White and Hispanic women had among the highest rates of reported cocaine use (1.7 and 1.4 percent, respectively), while non-Hispanic Black and non-Hispanic Asian women were least likely to report cocaine use (0.9 and 0.4 percent, respectively). Non-Hispanic White women were also among the most likely to have used psychotherapeutic drugs for non-medical use (6.3 percent).

Information on this page can be found in the print version of Women's Health USA 2011. Suggested Citation: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration, Maternal and Child Health Bureau. Women's Health USA 2011. Rockville, Maryland: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2011.